“We underwent a similar situation 10-12 years ago…The events you are telling about now occurred in our country when “Solidarnichi” was reigning in Poland and when the Soviet Union collapsed. The current events in Georgia have surprised us seeing that our country has been in a similar situation before, ,” said polish journalists in Warsaw when journalists from the Georgian regions attended a one-week training in Poland.

Jaba Jishkariani, a member of the “Egalitarian Institute”: “The representatives of our regional offices are threatened with physical assault. On November 8, Gocha Badzgaradze, the head of our Kutaisi office was kidnapped from the entrance of his own house; and on November 9, the house of Ilia Chachibaia, the head of the Zugdidi Office, was raided. After that, the members of the National Movement (Georgia’s leading party) called him several times and threatened him with physical assault. On November 8, Levan Gogichaishvili, a member of the Egalitarian Institute was called from number 895 603543 all day long and threatened with physical assault as well. In addition, I have been called from private telephone numbers the past few days and they threaten me with death.”

Law enforcement began operations against journalists on the morning of November 7th. Journalists covering ongoing events in front of the Georgian Parliament had their cameras seized. David Usupashvili, one of the leaders of Republican Party, points out that many reports were made by foreign journalists who, upon seeing the treatment of Georgian journalists, left the area in order to save their taken materials.

The Human Rights Center interviewed journalists who were injured during the chaos of November 7. Gas poisoning is not considered an injury because it affected both the journalists and ordinary people in a similar fashion.

With the shut down of the independent Batumi’s TV-25, the station’s employees have not worked in several days. “Law enforcement has forbidden us from broadcasting news items without legal documentation,” stated Channel 25’s founder, Merab Merkviladze.

On November 7th at 1:00 AM, criminal police officers and riot police entered the independent TV station. The operation was executed on the orders of Davit Bedia, head of the Adjara Main Department within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since that raid, TV-25 has been closed.

They
cannot state the exact reasons for the incident, but one thing is
obvious - the patrol police stopped their mini bus, by which they were
going to Batumi to attend a seminar, for no reason. The police arrested
the driver and moved the mini bus to the car impound lot. As for the
journalists, they barely arrived at their destination three hours
later, after the chairman of the Constitutional Court got involved in
the case.

Government representatives have not hesitated in making statements “warning” print media about their behavior, even as both TV and radio broadcasting, the main forums for disseminating information in Georgia, has been severely restricted. Levan Bezhuashvili, chairman of Parliament’s Legal Affairs committee, when speaking to journalists stated, “although there are many allegations against the print media, I hope that every editor and journalist will maintain a civil position and recognize that the country really needs stability and objective reporting of current events.”
07.11.08->photoshttp://www.myvideo.ge/?video_id=82176